FLOOR JANSEN IS THE MAIN VOCALIST ON AVALON II, THE ALBUM AND EUROPEAN TOUR PLANNED FOR MAY 201416 December 2013

The Nightwish/ReVamp singer Floor Jansen will appear in the leading role on the next album of Timo Tolkki's Avalon Metal Opera.

Jansen is the main vocalist on the album and sings lead vocals on the first single and promotional video. The release date for both single and the video is planned for March. The recordings are currently taking place in East Sound Studios in Helsinki, Finland.

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Jansen joins the cast that already includes Epica singer Simone Simons and a reunion of the early Stratovarius with Tuomo Lassila, the founder of Stratovarius, on drums and the original keyboard player Antti Ikonen.

A European Tour is also planned for May 2014, to coincide with the release of the album. More details on the live lineup and dates will be revealed later.

Timo Tolkki comments straight from the studio: "I am right now recording probably the best vocalist I have worked with in my whole career. This has been a jaw dropping experience and I thought I have already seen it all. Floor has proven me wrong.

For example in the 10 minute title track of the album, she delivers in my opinion the best vocals of her career so far. This song is probably the biggest sounding of my whole career and Floor simply makes it an astonishing, almost breathtaking experience! We are both surprised of how amazing this has turned out to be and both very happy to hear how amazing it sounds."

News of this second Avalon album has been punctuated by short videoblogs and you can see Floor's message below: